Islamic State and the Social Media in Indonesia

Abstract

Advanced communication and information technologies are changing the nature of terrorism in Indonesia. The use of social media by the so-called Islamic State (IS) is changing its recruitment and communication processes. Islamic State is recruiting Indonesian Muslims to wage jihad (holy war or struggle) in Iraq and Syria through communication networks. IS previously used mainstream social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, to achieve its political ends. After IS‘s social media accounts had been closed down by the authorities, communication shifted to the anonymous sharing portals. This article analyses the nature of IS‘s social media strategy and the impact it has had on radicalization and recruitment in Indonesia. The research method consist of analysing the themes and patterns of IS‘s social media presence. The IS seems to have developed an effective social media strategy given the number of Indonesian members undertaking the hijrah (jihad by emigration) to Syria and Iraq. The data from the Indonesian security estimated that numbers of Indonesian have increased since the emergence of IS in 2013 until the fall of Mosul in July 2017. The paper will answer a question on how the used of social media had effectively increased the members‘ salafi-jihadist movement and utopian views of the establishment of a State which implemented Syariah Law.